Endocrine Abstracts

The way in which children with complex genital anomalies are managed is the subject of controversy and in a state of flux. The practice of early childhood genital surgery has been challenged in relation to both consent issues and functional outcomes.For the past fifty years practice has been informed by the so called optimal gender policy which proposed that in disorders of sexual development (DSD) gender assignment should be that which allows optimal ps...

Tissue kallikrein is a serine protease involved in the generation of kinins in kidneys, colon, salivary glands, pancreas and blood vessels which have vasodilator roles and influence ion transport. Abnormal renal synthesis and urinary excretion of tissue kallikrein have been linked to diabetes and hypertension. This study’s objective was to produce mAbs against native forms of prokallikrein and active kallikrein in order to study the expression of tissue kallikrein in diff...

Background: Metastatic paragangliomas (PGL) and pheochromocytomas (PCC) are rare neuroendocrine diseases with an incidence of 2 to 8 people per million, a prevalence between 1:2500 and 1:6500 and a strong hereditary disposition. However, due to the rarity of the disease, there is relatively limited data on treatment options, including radionuclide therapy using radioisotope analogs of MIBG and dotatate. There are a few published small series on clinical benefits of treating PG...

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors have not been shown to be active in well-differentiated NETs, with response rates <5%. Lenvatinib is a multitargeted TKI which targets VEGF and FGF receptors and has been reported to be effective in pancreatic and gastrointestinal NETs (40% and 18.5% ORR, respectively). The combination of antiangiogenic and checkpoint inhibitor therapies can be synergistic in other cancers. We therefore evaluated the combination of lenvatinib and pe...

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) are systemic diseases with a broad spectrum of coexisting disorders, but their common features are insulin resistance and higher frequency of concomitant type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). According to recent studies, a higher frequency of CHC in patients with DM is not associated with this cohort exposure to multiple medical interventions, but with CHC being a possible risk factor for developing DM. CHC m...

Objectives: We describe three patients recently admitted to our institution with severe hypomagnesaemia and hypocalcaemia and a history of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy.Patient 1 was admitted with lethargy, anorexia and leg cramps. Medications included a PPI (omeprazole) prescribed for gastritis. Corrected calcium was 1.54 mmol/l (2.15–2.65) and magnesium 0.25 mmol/l (0.7–1.0), with a PTH of 1.0 pmol/l (1.6–6.9) and 25-OH-vitamin D 5...

It has been hypothesised that the hypothalamo–pituitary gland complex is a prime target through which environmental chemicals may alter reproductive physiology. The aim of this study was to investigate whether exposure to an environmentally relevant mix of chemicals during in utero and post-natal development can alter pituitary function. Pituitary glands were collected from 110 day-old foetuses (8 control and 8 treated) and 18 month old, post-pubertal sheep (8 cont...

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is the most frequent thyroid disease in children, in areas of the world with sufficient iodine intake.Aim: To study the clinical features of HT in children at presentation.Material and method: We studied 99 children with HT, 76 (76.8%) girls and 23 (23.2%) boys, with mean chronological age 10.7±2.6 ys (3.2–15.6 ys). The diagnosis of HT was established from the high titers of antithyroid a...

Single gene defects causing severe insulin resistance have been elucidated either by directed screening of candidate genes (INSR, AKT2, PPARG) or by detailed linkage mapping in large pedigrees (BSCL2, AGPAT2, LMNA), and study of patients harbouring these known defects continues to yield important insights into insulin’s action in health and disease. However a large proportion of the genetic defects leading to severe insulin resistance in slim subjects remains undiscovered...

BackgroundMost thyroid nodules are benign, but therefore it is crucial to correctly stratify the malignancy risk of nodules to avoid unnecessary invasive procedures and/or surgery, but and still identify aggressive tumors. The aim of our study was to address the potential for improvement of malignancy detection in routine clinical setting using clinical examination, risk stratification of thyroid nodules on ultrasound using the American College of Radiol...